There were 47,221 POCSO cases out of 1,28,531 cases of crime against children in 2020 (36.73 per cent) and 47,335 of 1,48,185 such cases in 2019 (31.94 per cent).

NCRB data on cases registered under POCSO show a steady increase in the rate (incidents per 1 lakh children): 12.1 in 2021 (53,276 girls, 1,083 boys); 10.6 in both 2020 and 2019.

Sikkim has the highest rate of sexual offences against children with 48.6 followed by Kerala (28.1), Meghalaya (27.8), Haryana (24.7) and Mizoram (24.6).

The largest number of cases registered under POCSO in 2021 was in UP (7,129) followed by Maharashtra (6,200), Madhya Pradesh (6,070), Tamil Nadu (4,465) and Karnataka (2,813).

In percentage terms, the top categories under crime against children during 2021 were kidnapping and abduction (45 per cent) followed by POCSO cases.

In all, there was a 16.2 per cent rise in cases of crime against children in 2021 from the previous year, according to the NCRB report. “The crime rate registered per lakh children population is 33.6 in 2021 in comparison with 28.9 in 2020,’’ the report states.

Sikkim had the highest rate of crime against children amongst states at 72.4 followed by Madhya Pradesh at 66.7.

Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of actual cases registered — 19,173 cases in 2021. The state also had the highest number of cases registered in 2020 with over 17,000 cases, followed by UP and Maharashtra. In 2019, Maharashtra had the highest number of cases at 19,592, followed by Madhya Pradesh and UP.

Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Assam were the other states with the high rates of crimes against children in 2021. Nagaland had the lowest rate of crime against children at 6.2 as well as the lowest number of cases registered in 2021 at 51. The state also had the lowest number of cases registered in 2019 with 59, as well as in 2020 with 31.

Among union territories, Delhi had the highest rate of crimes against children in 2021 with 128.5 — also the highest in the country with over 7,000 cases registered last year.

The NCRB data show that 140 children were raped and murdered in 2021, and another 1,402 murdered. There were 359 cases of abetment to suicide of children. The largest number of rape and murder, as well as murder of children took place in UP.

According to the report, there were 121 cases of foeticide registered last year with the largest number logged in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat (23 each) followed by Chhattisgarh (21) and Rajasthan (13). There were 112 cases of foeticide in 2020, with Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh topping the list in that year, too.

As many as 49,535 children were abducted last year with the highest numbers in Maharashtra (9,415), Madhya Pradesh (8,224), Odisha (5,135) and West Bengal (4,026). As many as 5,345 children were abducted in Delhi in 2021.

The NCRB report states that 29,364 children were declared missing and since deemed as kidnapped. This number includes 12,347 minor girls for the purpose of “being compelled into marriage’’, the NCRB report found. It shows that 1,046 children were trafficked last year with Delhi, Bihar and Assam topping the list.

There were 982 cases registered under the Child Labour Act last year with the highest number of cases registered in Telangana (305) followed by Assam.

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The report states that 1,062 cases were registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act last year with the top three states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

A total of 31,170 cases were registered against juveniles in 2021, depicting an increase of 4.7 per cent over 2020 (29,768).